


putting up reindeer (singing songs of joy and peace)

by cinderlily



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Christmas, Grinch feelings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13176024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: It was his first year without Jordie with him for Christmas, and Jamie wasn't taking it the best.





	putting up reindeer (singing songs of joy and peace)

**Author's Note:**

> First off, this was mostly me just venting out my own grinchness but turned totally sappy. Damn you Jamie Benn.   
> Second off, thank you FreetoDream5 for betaing and loving me. <3

Jamie hadn’t had a good night sleep in nearly a week, a mixture of his body fighting off what he assumed to be a cold and the stress of the road. Add to the fact that it was his first Christmas without Jordie and he wasn’t exactly feeling the Christmas spirit. He put on a show of it, made sure that everyone saw his best smile at the small event that the guys threw. Made jokes through the mask he wore at the Children’s Hospital that they were just hiding the Evil Jamie.

They had four days off, but he wasn’t able to go anywhere and his parents had already been promised to Jenny for the year. He had let himself push the feeling off as much as possible but when he woke on the twenty-fourth it hit him like a wave, the total lack of Christmas spirit. 

He hadn’t even bothered to grab a tree, or even to hire someone to do so for him. He felt suspiciously grinch-like, and he was not having it. He was a Christmas person. His parents had raised him to love the season, bake cookies and decorate trees. He knew if he called pretty much anyone on the team he could swing an invite, whether it be a party with the singletons or a serious Christmas with the marrieds. But third wheeling it was not exactly where he wanted to be. 

So he put on the Family Channel and let the stupid Christmas movies flow over him. He Amazon primed some cookies and tragically alcohol-free eggnog, tipped like the guy was coming out in a storm and cuddled up on his couch in a pair of ratty pajamas and a Stars Shirsey. He figured if he could make it through Christmas Eve (even the day), then he’d Skype his parents the next day and feel a lot better. Or maybe a little better. 

It was four o’clock when there was a knock at his door. He figured it was some last minute delivery because his brother was a dick and always forgot to send gifts till the last possible second, but when he opened the door it was Tyler with a huge shit eating grin and two big brown bags. 

“Merry Christmas ya filthy animal,” Tyler grinned. “Take these bags, I got shit to get out of the car.” 

Jamie did as he was told, grabbed the bags and then just stared blankly at the retreating figure. It took him a moment to realize they were grocery bags, so he turned around and walked to the kitchen to put it away. Why? He had no idea. He generally just did what he thought would make Tyler happy. 

There was a small chicken, potatoes, stove top, a veggie tray, more eggnog and not one but two pumpkin pies. He boggled at the food and then when he walked out of the room he had to do a double take. Tyler had a boxed fake tree which he was trying to wrangle out of the box, not to mention a few plastic bags at his feet. 

“What are you doing?” Jamie asked, though he knew it was pretty obvious, he walked over to help out.

Tyler grunted. “I was TRYING to get this tree out but I think they glued it to the fucking box.” 

Jamie looked at the box and hummed. He flipped the box over and opened it from the other side. He was able to grab the base of it and it more or less fell out, followed by a long cord. 

“Are you kidding me?” Tyler asked as he glared at the box like it owed him money. He looked over at Jamie. “Okay, your beard is making you look like your brother and it’s freaking me out.”

He wouldn’t admit it but that was part of the reason he grew it. He’d been so used to having family around non-stop that he needed the nice little reminder of the annoying jerk. Either way, he stroked it. “You’re just jealous of my beard game.” 

“I’ve _got_ beard game,” Tyler said, with a stroke to his still baby fine hair. “I just don’t live in a cabin and do ads for paper towels in my free time.”

Jamie flashed him the finger and looked around. “Shouldn’t you be doing this at your house?” 

“Nah,” Tyler said. “My house is depressing as FUCK, I don’t like it. Your house is better.” 

How his house was any better or worse was beyond him but he shrugged and grabbed the tree to fluff it out. “What’s with the cord?” 

“Oh you’ll see,” Tyler beamed. He put his hands in the bag and pulled out boxes of green and red ornaments. The tree wasn’t that tall, maybe five feet. But it was a whole lot better than nothing, so Jamie took his time in making sure that it was properly pulled together before he would let Tyler put the ornaments on. He watched Tyler haphazardly put them on the tree and frowned. Trees needed some kind of order. 

He casually moved the ones that Tyler had already put up. “Where are the beasts?” 

“The backyard, I used the gate. Dog plus decorating tree equals a bad idea,” Tyler said and he stepped back. “Are you mapping them out?” 

Jamie blushed and looked back. “Well, you had three reds in a row. It looked weird.” 

“YOU _are_ weird.” 

“Sweet come back, dude,” Jamie said, finally getting it so that it wasn’t too lopsided. The greens were almost the same color as the tree though, which bugged him. “You got lights? I have some in my storage unit…” 

Tyler held up a finger, walked to the wall and plugged the tree in. The room light up with the small twinkling of white lights in the middle of the tree and on a few of the branches. Then Tyler picked up a little clicker and pressed it. 

The lights would change color, or they would dance, they alternated. 

“Really, Seguin?” 

“Only the best, Jamison,” Tyler smiled, wiggling his eyebrows and pressing the button to make the lights a simple shimmering white. “I spent a whopping sixty bucks on this. It was either this or a sparkly pink one, but I went on instinct for once.” 

Jamie couldn’t help but laugh at that one. “Well, thank you?” 

Tyler pointed at the tree. “You think I did this for you? This is all for me. I even brought my gifts from my family. They go under the tree. Except for the PJs, my mom sends every year. I got you some, too.” 

“You did what?” 

“Come on, dude, catch the spirit,” Tyler teased, poking his tongue out of the side of his mouth. He walked over towards the bags and grabbed something to toss at Jamie. “You’ve been down for a week. Last year we had a countdown to Christmas. A shot Advent calendar. I’m feeling a distinct lack of love this year.” 

The package in his arms, unwrapped, of course, was full-sized Elf PJ’s. It even seemingly came with a weird half hat that had ears. Jamie was going to say something along the lines of ‘Fuck off’ or ‘I’m an adult, unlike others’, but instead he blurted out a rather blunt. “I miss my brother.” 

Tyler paused in the middle of digging through the bag to stand up and looked, weirdly, abashed. 

“Fuck me,” he muttered. “Of course.” 

It sounded nice, the idea of fucking Tyler, but he put that aside. “It’s stupid. I get it. I’m an adult. I don’t need my brother around all the time to keep me in the Christmas spirit.” 

“But this is the first year you don’t have family in…” 

“None of the other guys have family unless they're married. Your parents aren’t here,” Jamie frowned. “I’m just tired, I guess. It’s been weird not having him here, so I moped.” 

Tyler let a small smile slip across his face. “I can tell that by the empty carton of Eggnog. Tell me you at least made it grown up Eggnog.” 

“Am I standing? No, I didn’t. I drank it at like noon.” 

“Five o’clock somewhere,” Tyler said and walked into the kitchen without pausing to ask Jamie anything. He actually liked that. The fact that this house felt the same to him as his own house. He liked a lot of things about Tyler and his friendship. 

There was some clinking noise, and Jamie made his way to the kitchen to find that Tyler was making what could only be considered bourbon with the smallest wave of Eggnog a top of each one. It was not a shock in the least to him, when he got the chance there was no way to get Tyler to calm down. Instead of rebuking or even calling Captaincy rules, Jamie walked over to his cupboard and found a couple bags of popcorn. It was the Smart Popcorn, which would no doubt get complaints from Tyler but what was new there? 

He grabbed two large bowls and poured the contents in. Tyler finished up with the ‘eggnog’ and walked back out to the other room. To his slight shock, he saw Tyler already down to his boxers, putting on a pair of bright red and green PJ pants followed by a frankly hideous reindeer shirt. Why was it always reindeers? 

“Come on, Buddy,” Tyler said, picking up where he had the discarded pair of PJs. “Do you know how hard it is to get PJs in ‘Tall, super broad and handsome’? Not even to mention your ass.”

Jamie glared at him. “Shut up.” 

“What? It’s a compliment!” he said, and for the second time he tossed the elf pajamas at Jamie. Jamie thought about not wearing them on principle alone but instead, he put his bowls down and headed to the bathroom. Tyler might be willing to strip down in public, hell if he had those abs he wouldn’t wear clothing ever, but he was better off in the privacy of his own little space. 

To his annoyance, they fit him perfectly. He looked ridiculous, but they were comfortable and he kind of loved them. He even tried on the dumb hat thing and there was a bell that amused the hell out of him. He bopped his head a few times and caught his smile in the mirror. It was the best-relaxed smile he’d had in a while. 

He walked out and Tyler, phone in hand, clicked a few photos. “You look aces, dude. ACES.” 

“I am going to punch you if those end up on social media,” Jamie said. 

“Just going to your family and mine and a few choice friends,” he said, pressing a button on his phone with a flourish. 

Jamie lunged at Tyler but Tyler was smart enough to toss his phone on the couch and started to run the opposite direction. He knew it was too late to delete the texts, probably too late to avoid it ending up on Insta by Cass. She had fast fingers, so instead, he broke towards Tyler who let out a holler and kept charging. 

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GO AFTER THE PHONE!” he bellowed as he ran. “THAT’S WHY I THREW IT!” 

Jamie laughed. “YOU EXPECT ME TO ZIG, I ZAG, MOTHER FUCKER!”

That brought out a laugh in Tyler that slowed him down considerably, which allowed Jamie to catch up to him. He pounced and gently punched Tyler’s arm and a few times in his stomach, nothing enough to even make him winded, beyond being winded from laughing. 

“You’re … the … devil…,” Tyler laughed. 

“Nope, I’m an elf,” he said, as he stopped to shake his head and let the little bell tinkle. “D’uh.” 

Tyler laughed harder, his laughter bringing him to his knees and Jamie followed suit, giving in to the urge to laugh. It felt good. This whole thing felt good. They were in his ‘dining room’ which had only ever been used at Stars events and the two times he hosted American Thanksgiving for his family. He laid down on the ground, appreciated the cool tile on his back. 

“I miss snow on Christmas,” Jamie commented, his breath coming back. 

Tyler laid down next to him. “I miss apple pie and cheese.” 

Jamie rolled his head to look at him. “What the hell?” 

“My grandma would make it, this really amazing apple pie and she’d splurge on cheese. My sisters ate the cheese on the side, I melted it on top of it,” Tyler said as if it was in any way normal. 

“That is freaking gross, man,” Jamie said. “I mean, no judgment.” 

Tyler laughed. “You are a fucking nerd. No judgment.” 

“We could probably order it,” Jamie said. 

“I think if you want to order snow it’s not a ‘Postmates’ style thing, it’s like a party event thing, dude.” 

Jamie rolled his eyes. “The pie and cheese that is obviously gross.” 

“Naw, it’s not the same,” Tyler said, and Jamie could recognize the feelings in that voice. He knew that he could do a lot of the traditions he and Jordie had grown over the years, but also knew that none of them would work out. Tyler lulled his head to the side and looked at Jamie.“You know, we have perfectly good eggnog just SITTING in the other room.” 

He had a point, so he pushed himself up on to his elbows and groaned as he got up. “Fuck, we’re getting old.” 

“Speak for yourself, Old Man,” Tyler said. “I am eternally youthful.” 

“I hate you,” Jamie groaned. 

Tyler nudged him. “No, you love me. Stop playing.” 

“Okay,” he said and Tyler hesitated mid-step but didn’t say anything. They kept walking. By the time they reached the living room the TV was playing ‘White Christmas’ and the two guys were singing ‘Sisters’. He blamed _his_ sister for grilling the song into his brain. 

Tyler saw the popcorn and looked at him dubiously. “Full calories, yummy popcorn?” 

“Shut up, eggnog is bad enough,” he said, setting his cup down on the side table and kicking his legs up. 

“Healthy popcorn. On Christmas.” 

Jamie shrugged. “New tradition?” 

“You are a freaking masochist,” he said. “You probably like the wheat shakes.” 

Jamie stuck his tongue out. “I would most definitely not go that far.” 

“Can we AT LEAST raid your ‘secret’ bag of M&M’s over the sink?” Tyler said, and he would protest and say he had no such thing but Tyler had that face on that he couldn’t say no to. 

He frowned. “Sure.” 

He got up and walked to the kitchen, tried to remember if there was still much left in the bag. He opened the cabinet and found the forgotten bag he’d bought the week before the last roadie. 

He called over his shoulder. “Success!”

“No need to yell, Jamie,” Tyler said, and Jamie startled at the sight of Tyler hanging out about a foot away in the doorway. 

“Getting M&M’s is not a two-man job, Ty,” he said, trying his best not to sound mean. 

“Figured I’d make sure you didn’t get lost.” 

Jamie frowned. “Loser.” 

“And yet _I’m_ hanging out with _you_ ,” Tyler said and grabbed the bag out of Jamie’s hand. 

Jamie felt where Tyler’s hand met his and the brush of warmth. He looked up at Tyler and almost laughed at the look on Tyler’s face. He leaned down slightly, and very slowly brought his lips to Tyler’s, hoping he didn’t get a punch in the face. Instead, he got a lingering kiss that was punctuated by a moan he was 75% sure wasn’t his. 

“What the hell was that?” Tyler said. 

Jamie blushed. “New tradition?” 

Tyler seemed to think about it for a second, licked his lips and just as Jamie thought he might have screwed things up Jamie felt Tyler’s lips brush his again. “I’m going to say, I like these new traditions.” 

“Uh, me too,” Jamie said, kissing him again. 

“Eggnog,” Tyler said. 

Jamie felt his face screw up. Tyler laughed. 

“Fuck the eggnog, or better yet _me_.” 

Jamie felt considerably happier about Christmas Eve. And a couple more times on Christmas Day.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Joni Mitchell's "River" because depressed Christmas? Joni Mitchell. 
> 
> And before you ask, my wife likes cheese on her apple pie. *shudder*


End file.
